Odd Eye
by insxnerate
Summary: This story begins with three people on a rowboat. A boy with heterochromatic eyes; a man with a prosthetic leg, and a baby bear. A little further into the future, they would be known widely as the renowned Cross Pirates.
1. NOTE

**Story Title:** Odd Eye

 **Summary:** This story begins with three people on a rowboat. A boy with heterochromatic eyes; a man with a prosthetic leg, and a baby bear. A little further into the future, they would be known widely as the renowned Cross Pirates.

 **Warnings:** This is an OC story, so there's little chance of our favourite Strawhats actually appearing.

 **Obvious Note:** I don't own One Piece.


	2. BEGiN

**1\. Begin**

 **a. TAKARA**

The story begins in Lucus, a very popular trading town in South Blue. In the shadows of the back streets, where the men who can't walk out in the open frequent, a single, twenty-five year old man walked along the back streets, his maroon brown hair draping loosely over his shoulders.

He wandered about, the soles of his leather boots scratching against the pavement noisily as he dragged his feet. A particular backstreet weaponsmith caught his eye.

He pushed open the doors and stepped into the mysterious shop. The place was empty and void of customers; the lights were dim and dark ; the store smelled of burnt coal and flames; weapons lined the walls and cabinets, all sharpened to perfection and glinted in the little light.

A man, around the redhead's age, sat at the counter, reading an old newspaper. He dispiritedly greeted his guest, informing him that he was welcome to look through anything around.

The redhead helped himself to the incredible arsenal he had found himself before. There were many kinds of weapons around, along with supplies or raw materials to make them. This shop was incredible.

He picked up a gun on the third cabinet, inspecting the holster and barrel, going through the magazine and checking the bullets. He faintly heard the man at the counter warning him not to pull the trigger. He'd responded with a hearty laugh, commenting on how bad the owner was at making jokes.

The redhead reached for straps of leather and metal. He picked up a few and grabbed nails and screws while he was at it. He spotted a small carving knife and took that as well. He put everything down on the counter, surprising the man a little.

The man sifted through the merchandise that was picked, softly counting the price it amounted to. After thinking for a long minute or so, he spoke up. "It all adds up to 1,000,000 berries."

"Huh?" the redhead was a little taken aback.

"I name the prices. It's a good price, compared to others 'round here. Most shops in this trading town overprice their items." the owner said, "Also, you bought too much. What are you gonna use all these, build a house?"

The redhead sighed in defeat, giving a dry chuckle, "Nah, just needed more supplies to last our traveling." he said, "A million, was it? Will this do?" The redhead untied a sack from his belt and placed it on the table. He opened it to show the shopowner the contents.

The man froze as a pile of pure gold ornaments poured out from the sack, costing well over a million berries. The man laughed. He reached under the counter and dug out a black leather bag, tossing it at the redhead.

"Take it," he said.

"Thanks."

* * *

 **b. LEER**

The center of town was rowdy and lively-people were walking around, shopping. Lucus, was, after all, one of the most popular trading towns in South Blue. People of all blues gathered in this town, to sell, to buy, to tour, to wander, to adventure.

Taking advantage of the myriad abundance of human life here, a master thief was in action.

A woman faintly felt a small figure brush against her shoulder. Out of the corner of her eye, she could only catch a tiny silhouette, not bigger than a child's size. The silhouette was only there for a fraction of a second before it vanished into the crowd.

Dismissing it quickly, she turned to her fruits basket, checking her shopping list once more on the groceries she had left to buy. "Eh?"

The woman checked her basket once more-she found onions, meat, bread, milk... "I'm sure I bought apples already?" she mumbled to herself. She reached into the bottom of her handbag, looking for her purse. Did she still have enough money for the rest of the groceries?

"My purse is gone?"

The small figure ducked into the alley, then peeked out once more to make sure no one had followed him. The figure was in fact, a baby bear.

A real, live grizzly wandering the streets of town was definitely not the norm. However, this bear had a purple purse held in its jaws, something he had stolen from the woman earlier.

The bear loved to steal. Undeniably, he was better than most normal humans at this. He was raised by an obnoxious human child who taught him that stealing food was one way to get food and thrill at the same time, and the baby bear had definitely grown on the game.

The bear placed the purse into a larger sack of more purses and wallets he had gathered. Satisfied at the amount, he perched at the edge of the large box beside it, and decided to rest as he waited.

* * *

 **c. TiTUS**

A blond wiped his sweat with the edge of his sleeve, settling down on the ground beside a medium-sized fishing boat. The sleeves of his white dress shirt were rolled up to his elbows, the chest part soaked in sweat.

It was a hot day, and he had barely managed to sell all his fish out before evening. Taking his hard-earned break, he opened his lunch pack and grabbed a sandwich. It was the second of the two meals he could afford in a day.

The blond lived a poor, unstable lifestyle fishing. It definitely did not suit him, but he had little to no other choice. After this meal, he would rest until the sky started turning dark, and set out to the seas in the area again, fishing until midnight.

He sighed. He had been living like this for one whole year now, and honestly speaking, he was getting increasingly tired of this. He was so done with this. He hadn't left home expecting things to turn out like this.

"Hey, hey," he heard a foreign voice and opened his eyes-he had closed them, taking a short rest.

"Why are you wearing a suit?"

The blond tried to register the boy's figure in front of him. The boy wore a bright red hooded shirt, stained with mud in patches. What intrigued the blond, though, was that one of his eyes did not match the other. The boy's right eye was blue, but his left eye was a shade of bright red.

"Hey, hey," the boy spoke up again, walking closer to the blond and crouching down to the eye level of the sitting blond, "Why are you wearing a suit?"

"Well," the blond muttered, "Why are you wearing a hood?"

The boy pulled down his bear-eared hood and gave him a light smile. "Takara gave it to me!" he said cheerfully, "He said my eyes would attract attention, so I havta hide it." the boy explained. "What about you, mister?"

"Takara?" the blonde couldn't help asking but quickly answered the question. "I'm poor, so I don't have anything much except this to wear. Also, this isn't a suit. It's a normal button up."

"Poor?" the boy asked, seemingly taking a moment to think, "Mister, you don't have money?"

The blond nodded, "Yes, sadly."

"Then, join my crew!" the boy exclaimed.

"Huh?" The blond's jaw's fell open in surprise, "How did it turn to that-I mean, what crew?"

The boy's grin was blindingly innocent, and the older man could barely handle the sparkle of purity overflowing from the black-haired kid. "I wanna be a pirate!" the kid declared, "I'm aiming for that-One Piece?-thing! I want treasures! King!"

The blond sighed. This kid is still the dreaming type? "Look here, kid, being a pirate isn't a game." he said nonchalantly, "The road of a pirate is laden with blood. Eventually, you would have to dirty your hands. It's not all about the treasures and adventure. You'll be put on the World Government's Wanted List, your life would be ruined forever. You'll never have a peaceful day ever again." he tried, a joking tone in his voice, but with the intention to scare the child out of his dreams.

"So what?"

The blond was surprise when the boy spoke up. The boy's voice didn't hold its previous cheery tone; instead, it was asked inquiringly. He looked at the boy.

"What's wrong with that?" The boy was staring straight at him, his eyes going cold, but his smile staying ever-so wide. It was a smile that sent shivers down the blond's spine. The smile that seemed to belong on a psycho.

The blond gulped, faintly realizing his own lips had curled into a smile. Why was he feeling excited? This boy was a lot more dangerous than he seemed. But the blond could only imagine how much fun he would experience traveling as a member of this crazy guy's pirate crew.

"So?" the boy's voice had morphed instantly into a cheery, gleeful and carefree tone, his face transforming back into the adorable grin he had, "Are you in?"

The blond laughed and turned his eyes to the boy. "Sure." he said simply holding up a hand to offer a handshake. "But there's just one catch," he shifted his hand away just as the boy was about to take it.

"A catch?" the boy piqued.

"I have my own dream." the blond told him, "I'm looking for a legendary gemstone."

"Gemstone? Like a jewel? Like a diamond?" the boy asked.

The blond nodded. "But the one I'm looking for is much more valuable than a diamond." he said, "It's called the Alpha, and it gives the holder amazing powers!"

"Alpha..." the boy repeated, "That's so cool!"

"I know, right?" the blond chuckled, "So if I join your crew, you have to help me find it. And if we ever do find it, it's mine, got it?" he asked.

"Got it!"

* * *

 **d. TAKARA**

"Leer?" the redhead called. He had finished his supply shopping a while ago and had gone to pick up the baby bear. The bear's job on this island was to get money, but a bear couldn't carry all he had gotten back to their boat, so the redhead was in charge of retrieving the bear. "Are you here or am I lost?"

A brown tail stuck itself out from under a bag of trash. The brown grizzly struggled to pull its legs out from underneath the weight and spent a long minute trying to tug its head out.

"Ah, found him." the redhead noted.

When it managed to pull its head out, it went fly-rolling backwards at the excess force and ended up hitting his head at the wall on the other side. The redhead reached down to pick up the bear by the scruff, holding it so the bear was facing him.

"What are you doing, you idiot?"

The bear was sniffling, trying not to cry but epically failing at it. "Gawrah!" The bear, who was teary-eyed, started punching the redhead in the face with its paws, struggling as if saying _let me go, meathead!_

"Okay, okay," the redhead said monotonously, "stop crying."

"Gawrah!" the bear yelled deniably at the redhead, punching the redhead at a faster pace. It didn't hurt at all, because the bear was too weak and its paws were actually very soft.

"Yes, you're not crying." the redhead said. He put the bear on his head-something that was actually a common action for him-"Stop crying before we get back, okay?"

The bear settled down comfortably on his head, but bit down the redhead's skull in revenge. "Gao!"

"Gao it is." the redhead said, gathering the sack of stolen purses and slinging it over his back with his free arm. "Don't leave your slobber on my head."

* * *

 **e. LEER**

"I told that dumbass to watch the ship, didn't I?"

The bear made a noise in approval. He looked up at the redhead, Takara, who was sighing in defeat. Takara pinched the bridge of his nose, an action he always did when Cross and Leer did something stupid.

Speaking of Cross, he was the cause of it this time. The black-haired Captain of theirs, who was tasked with ship-guarding, was gone. Well, they should've expected this already. Their captain wouldn't stay still for even five minutes without doing cartwheels across the thinnest tree branch in the world.

Leer jumped into the small rowboat, sniffing around. He picked up a small hair tie from the bottom of the boat and showed it to Takara.

"Oh, I was looking for that. Did it fall off when I was sleeping?" Takara took the white hair tie from Leer's mouth and used it to pull his hair to the back in a small ponytail. Feeling refreshed, he stepped into the boat with Leer, looking through everything he bought but not touching the stolen money yet.

The bear jumped onto the man's head again, looking into the bag to see what Takara had bought this time. The bear wasn't happy with the fact the red human had taken all the gold the bear had scavenged, but the bear wasn't one to hold grudges. After all, he gets food in return!

Catching a familiar scent, the bear perked up excitedly and looked to a certain direction.

* * *

 **f. TiTUS**

The boy was incredibly quick footed. He took the blond by the arm and had dragged the older man in a marathon through the woods. The older man actually had trouble keeping up with the boy and was glad when the forest parted and they reached an open area.

It wasn't far from where he had docked his fishing boat, but this place was further and more secluded and hidden from the city. A small rowboat was docked there, and a red-haired man was sitting inside the boat.

"Takara, Takara!" the black-haired boy called out to them.

 _That guy's Takara?_ the blond was a little surprised. He had expected 'Takara' to be an older, adult man, but the redhead was around his late twenties- _around my age_. The boy pulled the blond toward the boat, in front of the redhead. The redhead briefly looked up and his mouth fell open when he saw the blond.

The redhead had a scar around his left eye, the blond noticed. The man had long red hair-or was it brown? It was the color of rust, not so much brown as red; not so much red as brown-the blond quickly dismissed it as one of the many mysteries of the world. His hair was pulled to his back messily, and he had a permanent scowl on his face that spelled anything but friendly.

"Cross, you li'l-where did you snatch him from?!" he freaked out.

Cross beamed. "He's our newest member!"

The redhead pinched the bridge of his nose at an oncoming headache, seemingly having millions of complaints. In the end, he summed it up in one sentence:

"Did he agree?" he asked the boy.

Cross nodded with a 'uhn!'.

Takara facepalmed. He sighed. "Well then, nothing'll change your mind." he turned to me, bringing out a friendly smile I didn't know he had. "I'm Takara." he said, holding out a hand to offer a greeting handshake, "Nice meeting ya."

The redhead spoke a lot more kindly than what the blond had expected, so it took him a long minute to register the information in his head and react. He began by panicking and taking the hand that was held out for him.

"My name is Titus," he introduced himself, giving a nervous chuckle, "Well, I hope you won't mind me intruding in on you guys."

The bear on his head-there was a freaking bear on his head-roared, supposedly in greeting. Titus kept his face straight. _It's a bear. Is it a bear? It's so tiny. It's a bear. But it's so tiny. It's a baby bear. Where's the mother? Why is there a random bear cub? Was he bearnapped?_

"I'm Cross!" the black-haired boy, feeling forgotten, intruded into their line of vision, "and this-" the bear jumped from Takara's head to Cross', "is Leer!"

 **A boy in a bear hoodie with a bear on his head.** Titus couldn't suppress a laugh. He quickly turned away to prevent bursting out in giggles.

Cross cocked his head to the side, oblivious to why the blonde was cracking up.

"Anyway," Titus choked out in the midst of laughter, pointing a finger towards the forest they had emerged from, "Get on my fishing boat. This little rowboat won't fit us all."

"Sure," Takara gave an approving smile. He took the large sack that was at the end of the boat and handed it to Cross, who lifted it on his back like a Santa Claus and began running towards the forest ahead of the other two.

The redhead picked up a leather bag and slung it over his left shoulder, then picked up a paper bag of fruits with his free arm, stepping out of the boat. Titus offered to help him with the fruits bag, and Takara gratefully accepted the help.

The two left the boat where it was and walked towards the forest after the younger boy. The black-haired boy's hood had fallen off, the bear was now peeking out from inside his fallen hood as if it was a comfortable carrier.

"Hurry uup!" Cross hollered from the distance.

Titus and Takara glanced at each other, their eyes meeting.

Takara gave him a resigned smile. Titus gave a light chuckle.

They continued their walk to the boat in a pleasant, comfortable silence.


	3. BOND

**1.1: BOND**

 **a. TiTUS**

"Cool! Titus, you can read maps?" Cross exclaimed excitedly.

It had been two days since they left Lucus, and Titus had been checking the direction they were headed with a map and compass he had on hand when the bored boy came by. Not looking up, he answered the boy. "Well, I had to learn to navigate to survive as a wandering fisherman."

"Navigate?" Cross asked in inquisition, hearing an unfamiliar word.

Titus put the items on the table before turning to Cross. "Basically, I make sure the ship is going the correct way." he said.

"That's so cool!" Cross beamed, "I didn't know that was possible!"

"I only have a map of this part of the sea. When we get to the Grand Line, we'll have to get another map. And a Log Pose." Titus explained.

"Log Pose?" Cross asked.

"It's something like a special compass," Titus explained. "But by that time we'll have more crew members and we might get a better navigator so I might not be the one doing it anymore."

"Why do we need more than one Navigator?"

"Well," Titus took a moment to think of a proper answer. He felt like a father talking to his very young son that was curious about everything (in this case, it might not be that much different.) "Someone else might coincidentally have better skills than me."

"Then, what would you be if you're not a navigator?" Cross asked.

This actually made Titus think. What was he skilled at? He was equally good at a lot of things, but nothing particularly stood out for him. "Well, I can do anything, so anything's fine with me. Right now, I'm both the Navigator and Cook of the crew."

Cross seemed unimpressed at that. "Then, if everyone had a different job on the ship, everyone can do their own job, right?" he asked.

"Well, I guess." Titus replied, then mumbled the next line under his breath. "Does it work that way?"

"How many jobs are there on a normal pirate ship?" Cross asked.

"Eh?" The blond looked at the black-haired male in shock and surprise, as if he'd just grown another head. (Ironically enough, the baby bear climbed onto the boy's head and settled down there at the same moment.)

"How many jobs are there on a normal pirate ship?" Cross asked, probably thinking that Titus hadn't heard him the first time.

"W-Well," Titus stuttered, a little taken aback. _This kid wants to become a pirate but doesn't know much about them? What was Takara thinking when he agreed to letting this kid lead a crew?_

"Other than a navigator, you'll need a shipwright, a doctor...then, perhaps, a few gunmen and a few swordsmen...a cook? There are ships that don't have some of these jobs, and there are ships with almost none." Titus spoke. "Pirate ships usually have a lot of people, so all the jobs overlap and everyone just does whatever they want or can. Some people don't have a job and are just normal crew members."

"A lot of people?" Cross had been listening intently and quietly, slowly but surely swallowing down the information, holding the look of a curious child the whole time. "I hate remembering names, so I don't want a lot of people as my crew."

Titus was a little impressed. _This kid waited for me to finish before adding on any questions. Usually, they interrupt me over and over again while I'm speaking._

"Well, for now..." Titus walked towards the door and opened it. Cross followed him closely behind. Titus faintly registered the baby bear jumping off Cross' head and heading towards the other end of the boat. "For now, we'll need a ship, a crew, and a jolly roger, I guess. Let's ask Takara."

* * *

 **b. TAKARA**

The redhead had been taking a blissful nap when he was woken up by a brown furball barreling into his stomach harshly. He'd doubled over in pain for a long minute, whining as many curses as he could under his breath. He turned to the bear, rubbing a tear out of his eye.

"I wasn't sleeping, Leer..." he choked out, "I wasn't."

"Gao." The bear said simply, a mischievous smile on its face-if that was a smile. Do bears smile? Whatever. His face was a literal :3.

Takara sat back down properly where he was before. He had used the wood he had bought and the wood he got from disassembling the old rowboat to build wooden chests along the sides of the cabin.

When they first got on the boat, the amount of items Takara had filled most of the ship space so Cross and Titus had been in the cabin most of the time as Takara stayed outside at watch. He put the items he had bought and the spare materials he hadn't used in the wooden chests so there was a lot more space on the boat.

"What did you do to my boat?"

Takara flinched. The blond's voice was cold and seething with rage.

"Well, this boat was too small for all that material to build up a mountain on one side..." He pulled up the lid of the storage box closest to him and searched for something. "I kinda altered it a bit so there was more space?"

Takara pulled out a large metal strip just in time to block a sword coming down at his face. Titus swung the sword down over and over again, in which Takara parried each one with the metal skillfully.

* * *

 **c. TiTUS**

"Where did you get that sword?" Takara asked, getting pushed back by the sheer force of the blonde's fury.

"I keep it in the cabin for emergencies." Titus replied, a scary smile gracing his face, "This boat was my house and who gave you permission to-"

"Me." Takara stuck his tongue out, "and that's a lame sword. It hasn't been sharpened for a long time and the hilt is all torn up." Takara commented, pushing Titus back now, "By your skills, I can tell you're not a swordsman. What's your main weapon?"

"A whip," Titus ducked down quickly and swept his legs at Takara's feet, trying to pull his legs out from under him. However, Takara's left leg held firm and didn't budge from its position despite taking a hard stomp in the shin. Titus tutted and jumped up quickly. "But I can't exactly use a whip on this narrow boat so the sword will have to do."

He looked down. He had found it weird from the start that Takara had a red cloth wrapped around his left boot. He thought it was just some weird fashion sense for the male, but he started to think of the possibility he was hiding something underneath the boot.

"You have a strong leg," Titus started, "What is it?"

Takara chuckled at the weird phrasing of the question. "My left leg's a prosthetic." Takara explained calmly, resting the metal strip on his shoulder. "It's a little heavier than a normal leg and it's stronger, but I don't use it to fight."

"A prosthetic, and not a robot leg? How inconvenient for battles." A smile graced the blond's face. "But that's interesting. Why do you have that red scarf over it, then?" he said, charging ahead for another flurry of clumsy sword attacks.

"Wait your turn," Takara said, stepping on a plank and lifted the other end like a see-saw, surprising the blond and hitting the sword out of his hands. The sword flew to the air and landed in the ocean.

"Oops," Titus said in an unaffected tone, "Guess that's one thing I'll never see again."

"Now, my question." Takara said, sitting down.

"When did this turn into a _Let's-take-turns-asking-each-other-questions_ -party?" Titus couldn't help retorting.

"I said," Takara placed the metal strip into the box and settled down on the deck, "Wait your turn."

* * *

 **d. LEER**

Cross and Leer had been watching the fight excitedly on the top of the cabin, betting on who would win and who would lose. Eventually, the two older males stopped fighting and sat down to have a calmer talk. The redhead began tinkering with a piece of leather, while the blond folded up his sleeves as it was getting quite hot out.

Leer and Cross held no interest in what they spoke about, and they knew they had no place in the conversation. After all, one was a mentally stunted brat and the other was a bear.

"I'm hungry," Cross mumbled.

"Gao," Leer agreed.

However, Titus and Takara were too absorbed in their conversation and the two knew better than to interrupt. A brilliant idea sparked in the bear's mind. The bear turned to the other direction and made a running jump into the ocean.

Seeing that, Cross pulled his top over his head and kicked off his boots. He leaped off the boat and dove into the ocean, yodeling.

* * *

 **e. TAKARA**

"Why did you let Cross become a pirate?" Titus asked.

At that, the redhead's hand dropped. He sighed internally, lifting his head to look at the blond. The sound of water splashing on the other side told the two that the boy had probably done something stupid like jumping into the sea and wasn't listening in on their conversation.

Takara silently noted that the blond had a face of disappointment. He was angry. The redhead faintly recognized that glare-it was the kind of glare a parent usually wore when their child was in danger. The kind of glare an older brother wore when his younger brother was hurt.

"Why did you allow him into a world that would stain his hands with blood?"

Takara put the materials he was working on back into the box. He let out an audible sigh and looked up towards the sky.

"Before I actually get started, he may have a baby face, but he's actually 17." he said slowly, referring to Cross. "And well, to sum it up quickly, his hands aren't clean."

* * *

 **g. TiTUS**

It was a long silence after that. Titus froze at the revelation- _you're telling me that the kid that just literally jumped into the ocean just now to play in the water had dirty hands_?

"I first met him five years ago on Geum Island." Takara started, regardless of Titus's reactions, "That time, he was a little... different." Takara closed his eyes, thinking, "He smelled of blood, and his clothes were stained red. He was like a robot-one designed specially to kill people." Takara described slowly. "Well, a lot happened and now he's like this."

The child, when Titus met him, was lively and childish in every way possible, having fun being mischievous and doing stupid things like a normal child would. It was hard to believe that his hands were dirty already.

Was it all an act? Was the boy just pretending to be fine, all the while pushing away the broken pieces inside him? Or was the boy just plain broken, his mindset screwed up so badly nothing can ever fix him back together again?

Titus may just be overthinking things.

"I want to protect him." Takara said, "I want to see him enjoying himself in what he likes to do. It doesn't matter if what he wants to do is be a pirate, a murderer, or a criminal. I'll protect him. I'll see through all the crimes he makes, and watch over him forever."

Titus let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. That was, truly, a dark dream. Takara was darker than he had originally thought. His eyes, when Titus met them were full of conviction and determination. Eyes that meant he was completely serious; the eyes that spoke volumes of all the bloodlust Takara had yet to let out into the open.

"Enough about him." Takara cut off quickly, turning to the blond with a grin on his face, "What about you? Why'd you agree to joining?"

* * *

 **h. LEER**

Leer had emerge from the waters, a fish in his mouth. Cross, who had gotten on the boat a while ago lifted the bear ashore. The bear shook itself dry then swallowed the fish in one huge gulp. He licked his lips and raised his front paws onto the edge of the boat, eager for more.

"Ehhh? You still want more?" Cross awed, taken aback, "I'm already full."

Leer leaped into the ocean once more, but stopped in midair. Someone had caught him, grabbing him by the scruff. He turned his head to the back, confused.

Takara groaned. He brought the bear near his face but at least a clear half foot away. "I knew you guys were doing something stupid, but seriously?"

"Gaowwr." Leer whined, denying. He gave the redhead teary, pleading eyes, his paws put in a begging action.

Takara pinched the bridge of his nose in pain of a headache. "Titus-san," he called, using a honorific they had both agreed on using, "mind making some food for the hungry paws?"

"Sure." Titus replied, standing up and opening the door to the cabin.

Takara began scrubbing at the bear with a dry cloth, eager to rid the bear of a single drop of water left on the roots of its fur. Leer sat down, slightly enjoying the gentle massage-like treatment.

Cross on the other hand dried off his body quickly and put his shirt back on, leaving himself with drenched hair and soaking shorts. The boy sat down quietly at the edge of the boat with his hood down, waiting for his hair to dry naturally, his towel around his neck.

Titus soon walked out of the cabin, a plate of cooked fish and a bowl of soup in his hands. He gave the fish to Leer and handed the soup to Takara.

Leer immediately beamed, jumping out of where Takara was trying to dry him and to the plate of food. He began gobbling food down without any signs of stopping until he's done.

"Me too?" the redhead asked, taking the bowl that was handed to him.

"Well, you oughta be hungry by now." Titus said. He reached into the cabin once again and brought out a tray that held a mug and a few cups. He placed it on the floor next to Leer and headed over to where Cross was.

Cross whined when Titus took the towel and began drying his hair for him.

"I think I'll join you." Titus said suddenly, confusing both Cross and Leer.

He turned to face Takara. "You might have your own reason, but just remember that we're crewmates now. I'm not an enemy you have to take down. If at any moment you stop trusting me, I will voluntarily leave the crew right away." Titus said, giving Takara a bashful smile. "I give you my word."

"And, well, I mean," Titus spoke nervously, his hands going back to drying Cross' hair, "I like kids."

The redhead and the blond glanced at each other, their eyes meeting for a fraction of a moment. Takara smirked as Titus grinned wider.

Then they laughed.


	4. WHiP

**2\. WHiP**

 **a. TAKARA**

Titus yawned. He was sitting down, his legs crossed, leaning his back against the cabin. Takara was sitting beside him, in a similar position. However, in contrast to Titus' unanxious expression, Takara looked on the verge of charging into World War.

"So, Titus-san," Takara said, trying very hard to keep a gentle tone despite his voice full of annoyance and irritation, "Remind me again how we've gotten into this situation."

"Well, Takara-chan...Y'know, I think I'll just call you Taka-chan," Titus tilted his head to the side, thinking of a proper summary of the whole situation that transpired in the last three hours, "Well, we've been drifting aimlessly for about a week now... I think you were trying to make yourself a weapon? Cross was trying to figure out how sea water tasted like and why it was bad for your health... I was making dinner, though...Ah, did you finish your weapon?"

"Get to the point already!" Takara groaned, trying not to kick the blond's head with his free legs as they were still being watched by a few white-uniformed soldiers in front of them. "And no. There's a limit to what I could do without a smithing stove."

"Oh. And well, Cro-chan saw a ship in the distance and started waving at them." the blond started, "And before we noticed-because, well, we were inside the cabin-he was mouthing off to a Marine ship about how he was aiming to be a pirate and that he was gonna find treasures at the end of the Grand Line and become the pirate king yada yada," Titus mumbled, "Then someone caught Leer-chan, who was snooping through the ships treasures..." he trailed off.

"And they fucking seized our ship!" Takara planted a foot at the side of Titus' head, "God, you're horrible at summarizing! I shouldn't have asked! Where the hell is that dumbshit Cross right now?" he yelled.

"Well, I haven't told you this, but he jumped off the boat the moment they started pointing guns and, because the soldiers couldn't find him at all, he's probably hiding out somewhere right now." Titus said, unaffected by the rude foot, "He could be doing backflips up on the crow's nest for all we know."

Takara sighed in defeat. His arms, as well as Titus', were bonded so there was nothing they could do until Cross comes by to save them. The Marines that had caught them were going to arrest them or something for thieving. They had probably found the sack of money on their fishing boat as well and had seized it already. That was about fifty thousand berries down the drain.

"So now," Titus was still speaking, "There's actually one thing I haven't told you guys yet."

Now Takara was interested. "What?" he asked. Was it something that would help them get out of here faster? Takara couldn't help having hope.

"Actually," Titus said, his eyes turning serious, "I'm more of a navigator than a cook."

It only took a second for Takara to stand up and plant his heel into the blond's face-or so he thought, but the blond dodged. They started a fury of kicking-and-dodging, the redhead showing obvious anger and the blond seemed to be swinging about jovially.

 **"Crap! He stood up!"** a Marine soldier yelled out, alarmed.

 **"He's using violence against his own crewmate?"** another shouted.

 **"Why didn't we bind their legs?"** someone said.

"I'm joking! I'm joking!" Titus said, trying to calm the redhead down whilst laughing, "I'll be serious now, so stop attacking me."

Takara had no idea how many times he's sighed today, but he resigned and sat back down, facing the blond this time. "One more line of nonsense from you and you're dead."

Titus chuckled, satisfied with that reaction. "To tell the truth, I ate this thing called a Devil's Fruit." he said.

 _Huh?_

 **"EHHHHH?"** The whole Marine ship shrieked.

Titus laughed out loud at their reactions. He stood up, the ropes binding his arms falling to the ground as he did.

 **"EEEHHHHH?"** everyone including Takara yelled this time.

Titus stretched, loosening his sore limbs. He turned to Takara and offered a hand to help him up. Something akin to a blade cut the ropes around Takara's body -Takara couldn't catch what it was as it moved too fast and disappeared right after.

 **"The other one's free too!"**

 **"Don't move!"**

Disregarding the Marines that were now panicking or loading their guns and pointing the barrels at the two pirate wannabes, Takara grabbed Titus' arm and pulled himself up. Takara glared at the blond, "You owe me an explanation." he scowled.

Titus nodded, and pointed a finger upwards. "But Cro-chan's getting a little bored up there, so I'd suggest we get going already?"

* * *

 **b. TiTUS**

As Takara sighed for the _who knows how many already_ -th time that day, Titus couldn't resist the grin that graced his face. Cross seemed to love driving him insane with his crazy antics, and the blond couldn't resist joining in.

"So, what do you say, Taka-chan?" the blond said, stressing the nickname coyly, "How about we start our first ever official act of piracy?"

 **"FIRE!"**

And right at that moment, all the guns let off at once.

The blond's eyes sharpened in glee. A transparent liquid gathered from his arm to form a weapon's hilt, then it extended, lengthened itself to form a thin whip. Flicking it around skillfully, the blond easily repelled the bullets that went his way. The whip itself was barely visible, but it was most definitely a solid.

Unaffected by the sudden revelation of power, Takara leaped upwards, landing on the roof of the cabin a tad elegantly. "I'll head back to the boat." he briefly informed before turning around, not looking back as he headed towards the back of the Marine ship. "You're in charge of the kids."

 **"Hey, he ran away!"**

 **"After him!"**

 **"Don't let them get away!"**

"Gotcha, Daddy," Titus said in a sing-song tune. He turned towards the marine soldiers, silently counting the amount of people there. He snapped his whip loudly, catching the attention of the marine soldiers again. "Wait, am I the mommy?"

 **"FIRE!"**

But their target had disappeared right after the command. The blond had already rounded behind them, holding a sharp-edged black whip. The transparent whip had disappeared. The front sections of their gun barrels dropped off one after another, having been cut by the impossibly sharp weapon.

 **"He had another one?"**

 **"That must've been what cut off the chains!"**

 **"We didn't expect a devil fruit eater!"**

 **"Dammit!"**

 **"Don't panic, he's overpowered in numbers!"**

Their guns were now useless, so they threw it down and drew their swords. They charged at the blond, who calmly slashed his black whip at all his enemies, taking them down. Suffering several cuts on their bodies, the soldiers fell one after another.

* * *

 **c. TAKARA**

The redhead sped past the unprepared soldiers, successfully reaching the back of the marine ship in no more than a minute and leaping off to where he knew the boat had been attached.

Landing on the boat roughly on his left foot, he dashed to the other side of the boat. He lifted a raised plank to a secret compartment underneath the boat. He was actually surprised the boat didn't overturn or break from his harsh landing.

Right at that moment, a soldier started shooting at him.

Quickly, he took out a gun-the one he had bought at the weaponsmith BULLET-and barely glanced over to that direction as he pulled the trigger thrice to counter the three cartridges that were shot at him. The bullets hit each other dead on and ricocheted, none hitting their target.

Takara gave a sigh of relief as a smirk graced his face.

Soldiers dropped down onto the boat, wielding swords. Takara pulled a metal bow from the compartment and used it as a shield as Takara fired a gun at the man behind him, grazing him in the shoulder.

The man behind the redhead wasn't hurt badly, but the sudden shock was enough to throw him off balance. Takara jumped to stomp on the side of the boat-the man behind him fell into the ocean at the loss of balance-and the redhead leaped, bringing his leg to the man behind the one with the sword.

He parried the sword-wielding man, steadily backing toward the wooden chest where all his weapons were. Bow still blocking the sword, Takara picked up an arrow from the box and set it on the bow, pulling and and aiming at the man's eye.

"Ack-" The man realized in how much trouble he was and froze, not daring to move.

Takara's smirk grew. He shifted the position of the bow and shot it, the arrow missing the man entirely and hitting a soldier that had been aiming his gun at them from the ship. He picked up another arrow and shot it at another soldier on the ship. All the while, he held his bow firm so the man with the sword in front of him couldn't attack in any way.

He picked up a carving knife from the box.

Takara kicked the man's legs out from under him but grabbed him by the collar before he could fall, then placed the blade edge of the knife at the man's neck. "Sorry to do this, but be my hostage for a bit." Takara whispered softly.

"Wha-" the man had no time to react to anything as the redhead moved too fast for him, "What are you planning?" he demanded, thought he sounded nervous.

"Nothing much," Takara mumbled, "Just catching my breath for a bit."

"Are you serious?!" the Marine soldier snapped at him comedically.

"Y'can't blame me," Takara seemed to pout a little, "It's been a while since I fought so I'm kinda outta shape."

* * *

 **d. TiTUS**

A figure dropped down from the skies. It latched onto Titus' shoulders-the blond was blown off his feet for a moment but managed to grab his balance-and the boy that fell from the skies wrapped his arms around the blond's neck.

"Titus, Titus, what're you doing?" Cross asked, his legs dangling more than half a metre above ground. Cross didn't seem the least bit affected by what the situation was and turned to the black whip in Titus' hand, "And what's that? Weapon? Devil's Fruit? What's a devil's fruit?"

Titus slashed at a man who came forward, completely unfazed by the addition of a weight on his shoulders, so the other soldiers hesitated to go closer to him.

"This is called a Whip." Titus spoke calmly and slowly, as if teaching a child, "A devil's fruit is basically a magical fruit. Anyone who eats it can get a devil's ability." he said.

"Devil's ability?" Cross asked, "Ah, that sword looks cool." he'd turned to a certain direction and spotted a Marine soldier with a more peculiar sword than the others. It had a green and gold hilt and it was a tad more polished. "But I don't like long swords."

Titus batted an eye at that Marine Soldier before turning back to Cross.

Titus flicked his wrist, snapping his whip loudly. "A devil's ability comes in many forms. It may be a little complicated to explain at once, but my weapon is an example." The blond swung it to the side, then upwards and brought it down, slamming it against the deck with a loud crash, leaving a swallow scratch in parts of the deck.

"I am a Whip Human. I can turn any part of my body into a whip." the blond explained. He started swinging the whip around in a rhythmical fashion, instantly defeating a great half of the marine soldiers on board.

"This is one of my eyelashes," Titus continued explaining, "It has a sharp end and is my lightest whip, so I use it most."

With a flick of his wrist, he made the whip disappear. He turned to Cross, who was still attached to his back. "Shall we head back to the boat?" he asked the black-haired boy, a sweet, motherly smile on his face.

* * *

 **e. TAKARA**

 **"It's just one person!"** Marine Captain Russo yelled out in utter frustration, **"IT'S JUST ONE NEWBIE PIRATE! WHY CAN'T WE GET ANYWHERE NEARER TO HIM?!"**

Takara nearly laughed. He was standing on the roof of the fishing boat's cabin, looking up at the crowd of Marines on their ship, none actually making a move to attack him.

 **"But, Captain Russo, he's too fast! None of our bullets hit him!"** a soldier explained, only to get yelled at.

 **"Attack all at once! He's bound to mess up if we tire him out!"** he ordered.

 **"Yessir!"**

Takara tutted. Titus is taking too long. _What is he doing up there, making dinner?_ Knowing how the two were, it was actually possible. Takara was keeping a lot of soldiers busy right now, so the other end of the ship should be empty if Titus took care of his enemies.

The whole front row of soldiers loaded their rifles and aimed at Takara. Takara mentally groaned. That was about ten too many guns pointed at him at once. All he had in hand was a metal bow that was out of arrows and a gun that was running out of bullets.

Takara slid himself through the window of the cabin and ducked behind the wall. It was only a fraction of a second later that the window shattered to pieces from gunshots. He avoided the shards and opened the cabinets.

Titus had mentioned he hid weapons in here in case of emergencies, but when Takara first entered he hadn't seen anything except cutlery, plates and other household items.

He felt the boat sink a little. Soldiers had come down onto the boat to attack him head on. The wooden chest was full of scrap materials. If the soldiers went through it they might also find the extra bullets and arrows he had hid deeper in.

Takara felt the back of the cabinet shift. He put his hand at the wooden surface and felt it move to the side. Smirking, he slid it open the whole way to find a small shield.

"Just what I needed," he mumbled gratefully.

 **"You damn pirate!"**

Takara blocked the sword with his shield. There were about five marine soldiers on board, probably because too much weight would sink the boat.

"Mind getting off?" Takara asked, smugly polite, "The blondie on our ship doesn't like people messing around with his house."

The Marine soldier twitched. Did this pirate just mock him? He pushed on further, but the redhead didn't back down. The redhead counted the number of opponents and drew a gun front his back pocket.

"I think I had three bullets left." he mumbled. "That's more than enough for five people."

 **"What are you talking about, you punk?"**

"As long as I've got bullets," Takara began, his smile changing into one of mockery and sarcasm, "Swords will never win against a gunsman."

* * *

 **f. TiTUS**

"Whip cage." Titus said the name of his move. He swung his whip around a large radius of him, hitting the cabin every now and then but defeating any Marines that tried to get near.

"Leer-chaaaan?" the blonde called, absentmindedly wandering around the ship. "We gotta go soon!"

Cross, who was hanging around with his arms wrapped around his neck was increasingly excited at the view from inside the whip's spherical range.

"Cro-chan, are you going to fight?" the blond asked.

"I wanna!" Cross said, "I wanna, but I wanna watch too!"

Titus let out a light chuckle. "Then, could you go help Taka-chan? They're all crowded at the back of the ship." he pointed at that direction, "I'll go pick up Leer."

"Uhn!" Cross said, leaping off Titus' shoulders. He ran out of the spherical range of the whip with little effort, surprising the blond. His Whip Cage was designed so no one could get out or into the perimeter, but Cross had skillfully and casually bounced around each slash easily. He did it so easily, the whips might as well have not been there at all.

"How terrifying," Titus mumbled.

* * *

 **g. TAKARA**

Takara pushed the man out and shoved him into the waters. He deflected the next man's sword with the back of his gun, spun it at an angle and pulled the sword upwards and out of the soldier's grasp. He moved the gun to the man's shoulder and fired.

The man howled in pain, doubling over. Two of the remaining soldiers circled around the boat and cornered him, firing at him from both sides. With incredible speed, Takara lowered his head slightly to dodge both. The bullets headed towards either of them, hitting them in the arm and the side.

The last man jumped from the roof of the cabin, wielding a sword. Takara swerved slightly to the side to avoid the sword, grabbing the man's arm and flipping him into the waters.

He breathed out, accidentally letting down his guard. Just when he'd thought he was done, the soldiers from the Marine ship started firing again. Completely caught off guard, a bullet ripped past his left arm. He winced, but crouched down low, sticking close to the cabin so he wouldn't get hit again.

When the fury of bullets had stopped, the two soldiers that were on the ship got up, holding in the pain as they held their weapons again.

They fired at him from both sides again, this time ducking behind the wall right after. Takara crouched down quickly to avoid them, then charged towards the man to the right, kicking him in the face right as he peeked out to look.

He drew his gun and pointed it at the other direction, at the last man who had drawn his gun as well.

Takara breathed out. He was already breathing a little heavily from the exercise, and he wasn't sure how many soldiers were still up there. Neither pulled the trigger as they stared at each other, waiting for the perfect moment.

Then, there was noise from above.

 **"What's with this kid-"**

 **"ARGH!"**

 **"FIRE!"**

 **"GAAAAHHH!"**

 **"He's too fast!"**

The two on the boat looked up to the ship in time to see a red boot come down on Marine Captain Russo's face.

"Don't bully-" the boy started jumping on the man's face, alternating between his left and right legs repeatedly, "-Takara!" He landed his last stomp with both feet and leaped down to the boat. Cross landed on the face of the soldier that was still on the boat. The soldier had no time to react and fell into the water.

When Cross looked back up, Takara had his hands in a facepalm.

* * *

 **h. TiTUS**

Titus lugged a huge sack of treasures as he walked. Leer was on his shoulder now as they bickered about something.

"Robbing a Marine Ship is worse than robbing normal people, Leer-chan," Titus was scolding the bear, "Are you listening?!"

"Gao!"

"I don't speak bear!" Titus whined.

"GAO!" Leer roared back, as if saying _I don't speak human either!_

Titus had kept his whip a while ago, and was just walking normally to the back of the ship. The soldiers on the ship had either been defeated, incapacitated, or unable to find an opening to attack. They weren't so stupid to not know that the blond was capable of dealing with all of them at once.

"Move away!" Marine Captain Russo ordered, drawing his sword. "I'll take him on."

Titus stopped walking when the Captain stood before him, challenging him to a one-on-one battle. Titus put the sack down and beside his leg. Leer jumped off his shoulder and onto the top of the sack, sitting down.

Titus reached to his head and ruffled his hair. Sighing, he ran his hand through the strands and plucked one out. The hair on his palm, he closed his fist. The strand of hair grew larger and longer, forming a long, yellow whip.

"Hair Whip," Titus said, pointing it towards the Marine Captain, "it's my longest whip. Can you beat it?"

Titus slammed the whip downwards, right at the Marine. Albeit with some effort, the Captain stopped it with his sword. The Marine threw the whip off track and stepped on it, completely incapacitating the weapon with his weight.

"Got you." he muttered smugly.

"Oops," Titus said.

Marine Captain Russo charged towards the blond, stepping on the whip with each step, not allowing the blond to use his whip at all.

Titus gulped. Then, the corners of his lips raised into a smirk. He raised his hand, and the whip split into half, the front portion raising and coming down at the Marine Captain.

Caught off guard, the Marine Captain took the blow head on and earned a red welt on his arms. He jumped back a few paces.

"This whip is also very brittle." Titus added subtly. He brought the whip back to his side, placing his other hand on his hip. "I'd love to continue playing, seeing the big boss finally decided to take us seriously," he chuckled a bit, "But we're going way off course of our original destination."

This actually irked Captain Russo a lot, so he stood up, holding his sword before him. "You brat-" he growled out lowly, "Looking down on me, are you?"

"No, no," Titus shook his hand in denial, giving him a jovial smile in this situation, "Cro-chan made me the navigator of our crew, so I have to live up to his expectations, no?"


	5. iNTERMiSSION

**2.1: iNTERMiSSiON**

 **a. TAKARA**

"I'm back." Titus said, as if he hadn't just nearly made the ship overturn from his horribly rough landing. He was lugging around an incredibly heavy bag and tossed it to Takara, who was caught unaware and was buried underneath.

"Don't 'I'm back' me! Are you trying to kill me?!" Takara yelled at him.

"Welcome back! We just finished up here too!" Cross greeted casually.

Takara crawled out from under the huge bag to find the bear had settled down comfortably on top of it. He resisted strangling the grizzly and turned to Titus. "Are they going to chase us further?" he asked, referring to the Marines.

Titus shook his head. "Thanks to Cro-chan, they can't." he said, untying the boat from the huge ship and pushed the boat adrift.

"Huh? What did you do, Cross?" Takara asked, handing Titus an oar as they both began rowing away from the Marine ship.

"Ah?" Cross was climbing up to the roof of the cabin and waving goodbye to the enraged Marines, "Uhh, when I was jumping down from the crow's nest thingy, I accidentally tore the sail." he explained. "That aside, Titus, I'm hungry."

"Gao!" Leer perked up at the mention of food. Leer began running around everywhere excitedly, particularly jogging circles around Takara and Titus, which the redhead eventually yelled at it to stop.

Titus laughed. "I'll make some food once we get outta this area."

"This sucks," Takara sighed, "I'm exhausted."

"That was fun!" Cross laughed as the Marine Ship went out of sight.

"Yes, it was. " Titus agreed, smiling. He stood up and stretched. "That was a great workout! Don't you agree, Taka-chan?"

And there Takara was, tying a makeshift bandage on his injured arm. He looked up, biting on one end of the cloth, "Huh?"

Cross freaked out. "AHHH! BLOOD! He's bleeding! Titus is he gonna die?"

"Calm down, Cro-chan!" Titus freaked out too, "Uhh...! Where's the first aid kit?"

* * *

 **b. RUSSO**

If y'all remember, this guy is the Marine Captain that was on board the ship earlier.

"Damn those self-proclaimed pirates!" he cursed out loud as a soldier wrapped his wounds, "How the hell was that blondie so strong?!"

"Cap'n Russo!" a soldier that had lighter injuries barged in, his hands held in a salute, "The sails have been replaced! Please order us to give chase!"

"Forget it!" Captain Russo slammed his fist on the deck, "Don't bother!"

"Huh?"

Captain Russo glared at the soldier. "We're in a rush. We don't have time for those scum right now." he said sternly, "Head towards our destination on the double. We're already late!"

The soldier jumped at the last sharp note. "Yessir!"

Russo sighed at the soldier ran out, informing the others of the newest order. The soldier wrapping his wounds was almost done.

Then, another Marine stepped in, laughing in cheerful oblivion, "Oopsie, did something happen? I was asleep below deck."

It took every nerve in Russo's body to avoid strangling the soldier. This man was nearly ten whole years younger than himself, but he was two ranks higher. Russo couldn't believe his eyes when he first saw the male, but his skills were real.

"Byte, I was wondering where you were and YOU WERE SLEEPING?!" he yelled.

Rear Admiral Byte Marvels laughed, "You know very well I sleep like a log!"

"Wake the hell up when people get heavily injured, dammit!" Russo yelled.

"I am honestly unable to be woken up by human hands, sir!" he retorted, holding his hand up in a saluting position, the wide grin still on his face. "So, what happened?"

* * *

 **c. TAKARA**

"Guys, I'm not dead." the redhead whined for the tenth time in ten minutes, "I'm not dying either." he added uselessly.

Takara lifted his upper body, leaning against the wall of the cabin, his lower body covered with a futon. Cross was latched onto his unhurt arm, desperate to not let the older male budge even an inch. The bear was on his lap, his paws lifted to rest on the chest of the male. Titus was wrapping his wound so horribly the bandages were coming apart before he was finished.

He had been forced into this state almost immediately, and has been stuck here like this since then. Honestly...

"Cross, you're overreacting." Takara decided to say, "Leer, stop asking if I'm dying. If I was, I wouldn't be talking right now," he turned to the bear, "and no, don't give me that look," he added, "Titus, you suck at this!" he yelled, "It's a waste of bandages!"

He threw the three off him in one moderately rough shove. "And seriously, the blood stopped already. The bullet didn't embed, it's just a scratch!"

Titus sulked. "You're so not honest." he mumbled, "We can all tell you're hurting, even."

"Well, Takara always gets cranky when he's in pain." Cross told Titus informatively, "Because the animals in the forest are always bullying him and he doesn't want the animals to know when he's weakened."

"CROSS! DON'T GIVE HIM UNNECESSARY INFORMATION!"

* * *

 **d. RUSSO**

"Captain!" another soldier rushed into the infirmary, holding a piece of paper in his hands. "-And Rear Admiral, I see you are awake!"

"What is it this time?" Russo yelled a little angrily-how many times have soldiers shouted for him already today? He started ignoring Byte and turned to the soldier.

"The camera Den Den Mushi caught a picture of the three pirates!" he yelled, hands put into a salute. He handed the three papers to Russo.

The first picture was of a closeup of a black-haired child wearing what seemed like a red sweater with bear ears on them. His mismatched eyes were looking at something in fascination.

 _A child?_ Russo thought. This child looked to be in his teens! What is this kid doing playing pirate?

The second picture was of the blond-haired man Russo fought...probably. Half of the picture was cut short by the arm of a Marine Soldier. Only a portion of his upper face was visible.

 _Lucky bastard,_ Russo growled. Russo didn't get a good look of his face either because of the intensity and distance between them during the fight.

The third man had red hair pulled to his back. He held a bow, pulled back, an arrow aimed at the ready. The picture was of his left side, and he seemed to be biting on an unlit cigarette. His one visible eye was the same shade as his hair-a rusty, peculiar brown.

Russo raised an eyebrow at this man. Something was familiar about this one. It was nostalgia, perhaps? _Have I met this man before?_

"Can I see that?" Rear Admiral Byte stepped in, childishly curious.

Russo handed the photograph to Byte, who took it and examined it slowly. Byte fell silent, his eyes widening in surprise.

 _This is the first time the brat's been quiet for more than a minute,_ Russo noted.

Byte held the picture in his hands, his face falling into an unreadable expression as he looked at it intently, as if reading a tasteless letter instead of looking at a picture.

Then, Byte began tearing the picture apart. His eyes solemn, he ripped the photo into pieces and tossed them into the air.

Russo was speechless. "Wha-"

"Print out another picture." Byte turned to the Marine soldier that brought in the photo. "Make a wanted poster for that guy." he said simply, " **Only** that guy."

Russo quickly stood up, "Wait, Rear Admiral Byte!" he called, "What's going on?"

Byte stopped walking at the door, and turned around. Byte gave the Captain a smile-a smile so creepily oozing with rage, it sent shivers down Russo's spine.

"For your information, Captain," Byte started, "That guy is **my** target."


	6. CONFLiCT

**3\. CONFLiCT**

 **a. TiTUS**

"Hey, I get that we'd want to protect Cro-chan all the way, but do we really need to coddle him?" the blond asked, sitting down beside the redhead. The redhead was fiddling with a piece of leather, altering it.

Takara seemed confused at the question. Titus sighed.

Titus crossed his arms and leaned them on the edge of the boat, then rested his head on them. "Well, like that Marine Ship yesterday. The both of us fought, but Cro-chan barely did anything." he said, "All he did was mess around. Can Cro-chan fight?"

When Titus noticed Takara said nothing, he turned to the redhead. The redhead, in turn, wrapped something around the blond's neck and pulled the strap, tightening it around his neck.

"Wha-" Titus was taken by surprise, "What is this-" he reached up and touched his neck, to find it was the piece of leather Takara was fiddling with just now. He felt around the strap and felt a piece of metal. "Is this a collar?" he asked.

Takara nodded. "It's for Leer."

"I see," Titus unfastened the buckle and pulled it off his neck, "And what was that for?" he asked, a little annoyed but not angry.

Takara took the collar from the blond's hands and rubbed a part of the fabric. "Cross can fight." Takara said. "He used to be reigned as the strongest animal in Geum Forest."

"Animal, you say..." Titus sweatdropped, "Geum Forest is Cro-chan's hometown, right? That's quite a feat."

"What about you? Why the sudden question?" Takara asked, attaching more metal onto the collar.

"Nothing much," Titus said, "Just had a thought that If Cro-chan is going to be our captain, he can't always be the protected baby of the family."

Takara yawned and stretched, putting down the leather collar and other materials on the deck. "You were a failing fisherman before this, right?" he asked, "Wasn't that boring?"

"Wait your turn," Titus said, putting a finger before his lips. "How strong exactly is Cro-chan? I can't really imagine, because I don't know much about Geum Forest."

Takara smiled in resignation. "Well, if Cross and I had a hand-to-hand fight, I would lose."

Titus couldn't suppress a gawk. He wasn't expecting that. Takara was quite well-built and experienced in battles-even Titus had some trouble sparring with him-but he's admitted to losing to the scrawny, baby-faced kid?

Seeing his reaction, Takara laughed. "That's how amazing Cross is."

"Then, why do we need to protect him?" Titus quickly asked. He was flooded with curiosity now, desperately wanting to solve the mystery of the enigma known as Cross.

"Wait your turn," Takara teased.

Titus groaned in utter frustration.

"How long more to the next island?" Takara decided to ask.

"At this pace, with this wind, we'll get there in half a day or so." Titus said, looking up at the sky to see the direction the clouds traveled. "If this wind keeps up, that is." he added. "Now, answer my question."

Takara laughed a little. "Cross is actually quite fragile, y'know." he started, "He's also a crybaby; he has no idea what a poisonous mushroom is; he has absolutely zero adaptability skills; he has no idea how to lie; he has no idea how to read or write, and I can go on forever like this, should I continue?"

"What are you, his dad?!" Titus snapped comedically. "You're literally here to be his guardian!"

"Well, I think I'd be more a mom." Takara correctly.

"That is not the part you should be correcting!"

 **b. LEER**

"I SEE AN ISLAND!" Cross yelled excitedly.

"Gaoo!" Leer added enthusiastically.

"So they say, Navigator." Takara gave Titus a look. Titus smiled in response. Titus got up and went into the cabin while Takara started keeping the extra materials he didn't use back into the secret compartment.

"Leer!" the redhead called for the bear. The bear jumped from the roof and landed right beside the redhead. Takara picked him up and showed him the collar he had made. The bear, unaware as to what it was as it cocked it head to the side curiously.

"It's called a collar." Takara said, wrapping the leather around the bear's neck and tightening it, fastening the buckle.

The bear shook his head at the foreign sensation, a small, gold plate jangling soundlessly with each jump. The gold plate had only four letters imprinted on it: LEER.

"Do you not like it?" Takara asked, as if attending to a customer.

The bear shook its head and beamed happily. It didn't matter what it was-his mother had taught him to appreciate gifts, and Leer liked anything Takara made. Takara always made weird things, so Leer had gotten used to receiving weird, human gifts.

Takara pet the bear's head affectionately in thanks. He stood up and picked up the bear, letting it down on the roof of the cabin. The bear ran over to where Cross was.

 **c. TAKARA**

"Leer-chan isn't a dog, y'know." Titus mumbled.

Takara smirked. He hadn't noticed when Titus had emerged from the cabin, but he and Titus had gotten to know each other quite well over the couple of weeks they've spent adrift on the seas. "Doesn't matter."

Takara took note of the blond's appearance. Titus had come out of the cabin with his sleeves rolled up, holding a small bag and wearing a brown cowboy hat.

"What's that for?" Takara suppressed a laugh at it. It was so random he couldn't-

"I'm weak against the sun." Titus said sheepishly.

"What's with that stupid weakness?" Takara couldn't help asking.

Titus stuck out his tongue childishly in response.

 **d. TiTUS**

"So this is how it'll be." Takara started, "We drew lots, so it's completely fair, okay?"

Titus gave a dry laugh as Cross grinned widely. They had landed on this island to find it was a fairly normal island, except the fact it was so peaceful there were other pirate ships at the bay. They didn't seem to be attacking, so the island was very peaceful.

"Repeat what I told you guys to do." Takara tested, making sure the two were listening to anything he had said.

Titus raised his hand slightly, "I'm in charge of buying food." he said.

"Correct. Get some sake, by the way." Takara said, then shifted his attention to the bear that was sitting next to Titus. "Leer?"

"Gawrahh! Gao Gao!" Leer raised his paws.

"Correct, in fact." Takara said.

"Quit pretending you understood him." Titus spoke sharply, keeping a deadpanned expression.

"I get to exploreee!" Cross cheered.

"No, you don't!" Takara and Titus snapped at the same time.

Cross pouted and looked away, sulking. "I wait for Leer to be done and help him carry the treasures back to the boat," he quoted what Takara said word-by-word in a moody tone.

"And I've been forbidden to use my left arm because of a scratch so I'll be watching the boat," Takara mumbled. "Now, I need you guys to promise me two things."

This caught the three(including Leer)'s attention and they turned to the redhead. The redhead was sitting with his legs crossed while the two were standing up so they had to look downwards.

"First, handle the money the care. Don't show it to just anyone around and don't use them to buy things we don't need." Takara said sternly, "Or really, don't buy anything that's not supplies or food."

Titus nodded knowingly, but Cross was just smiling. Cross had never bought anything before, so he wouldn't know how to use the money anyways. Takara sighed audibly.

"And second," Takara raised to fingers and looked at the two in the eye, "Don't pick any stupid fights and cause a scene." he said. "This is not the previous Marine Ship we escaped from. We'd never get out of here. Only fight back if you've been struck first. Don't kill anyone, and don't drag out a fight."

"And lastly," Takara said. "I'll be here on the ship, so if you're in trouble you can come running back." he reassured. "That's all."

"Why're you acting like a captain?" the blond taunted, but the redhead didn't bite.

Sighing, Titus fixed his hat and stood up. "You're no fun, Taka-chan." Slinging the bag he had filled full of treasures over his shoulder, he stepped out of the boat and waved to the two as he left towards the town. "I'll be back."

"Let's go, Leer!" Titus heard Cross calling behind him.

"Gao!"

"Have a safe trip." Takara called softly.

 **e. LEER**

"Leer, where do you think I should go first?" Cross asked the bear, as if expecting an answer.

The bear, as he usually did, gave no answer. Leer's job was always the same-we land on an island, then he goes out to steal, then he waits for Takara to pick him up. Leer loved stealing, so had absolutely no problems with that.

"Leer, look over there, it's a bar!" Cross spotted in the distance, pointing in the direction.

"Gao!" Leer growled excitedly. _Job later, food first,_ he decided. _Food is always priority!_

 **f. TAKARA**

The two left, leaving Takara to his own devices. The redhead lay down, turning towards the sky.

 _What am I supposed to do now?_

He was planning on going to a smith on the island but it was probably impossible, seeing he couldn't leave the boat now. He sighed. "If we ever get a proper pirate ship, I want a personal smithing stove." he whined, "Then I can make all the gear I need." he mumbled.

Takara was, in fact, a craftsman. He's picked up this hobby since way before he met Cross, and he was quite a famous blacksmith in his hometown, although that is history by now. He had only been able to work with leather and wood since coming here, despite having a lot of metal on board. He was itching to grab a hammer and start pounding, but he couldn't do anything without fire.

"Lessee..." he started, "Titus mentioned he uses a whip, but he's a devil fruit eater so he doesn't need a weapon I guess..." he started thinking, "Cross needs a weapon. He's strong barehanded, but bare fists can only get you so far on the seas..."

He made a mental note to figure it out later.

"Now, for me..." he started. "I think I'll stick to my favourite weapon, a bow and arrow. I still like it the best." he shifted his sitting position and crossed his legs, "Other than the bow itself and arrows, I'll need arm gear...I'd want a proper toolbelt to hold all my tools, too..."

A brilliant idea struck him as he suddenly remembered something. He stood up and went into the cabin, digging through the cabinets for something.

Titus had a notebook somewhere...

He found a stack of books in one of the cabinets and took them all out. He placed them on the table and started going through them.

One of them was a encyclopedia of the various tribes in the world-something Takara had recognized as a very rare/expensive/money-worthy book with very valuable information-there was also a few novels and a book of maps and navigation as well, but the last two were notebooks.

One book was completely empty, and the other book had the words SHIP LOG on it. He picked up the former. Surely, Titus wouldn't mind him using it.

 **e. TiTUS**

"Apples, meat...and bullets?" Titus looked at he shopping list he was given, "he literally listed three things...gods, I worry for their future."

 _Why apples, though?_

Titus let out a barely audible chuckle. Suddenly, an abnormally huge gust of wind blew him off his feet for a moment, his hat and the piece of paper flying out of his hands. Quickly, the male ran after the items, which had flown towards the forest.

He managed to catch his hat in mid air, landing on one feet and headed towards the piece of paper. However, before he got to the paper, another hand reached out and took it.

Titus stopped running.

A young boy stepped out from behind the trees, eyeing the blond intently. The boy had a head of black hair and an eye patch over his left eye. There was a katana strapped around his waist, and the male's other hand was already on the hilt.

Titus gulped. It has be a long time, but Titus definitely recognized the boy. The corners of Titus' mouth lifted into a smirk.

"I can't say how happy I am to see your face again." the blond said., fixing his posture into a calm and casual, seemingly off his guard. "How's your little sister?"

The ravenhead's one green eye narrowed in irritation. He knew better that to assume the blond was being careless. He tightened his grip on his sword's green-and-gold hilt, ready to draw at a moment's notice. He let out a breath, reminding himself of his purpose.

"[Poker Face, Titus Turner." the boy said pronouncing the name spitefully, drawing his sword slowly and pointing it at the blond, "As a bounty hunter, I'm here for your bounty."

Titus couldn't suppress a chuckle at the familiar epithet. "It's been a while, **Arma**." the blond called tauntingly, a transparent liquid from his arms gathering to forma transparent whip, "You have to know you can't beat me." Titus' smile was still on his face, "Not as long as you're fighting alone."

 **f. LEER**

When Cross opened the door of the bar, it went abnormally quiet. A lot of human adults were inside the bar and they were all looking straight at him. Leer notice that the men were strongly built and had weapons by the sides.

 _These guys are bad._

The air in the bar was awkward and stale as every person glared at the two newcomers. Leer crawled into Cross' hood and settled around his neck. Cross' hood was lifted, so Leer was well hidden in the crook of his neck.

"What's wrong, Leer?" Cross asked softly, "Are you scared?"

Leer merely shrank back, whimpering. Cross continued walking to the counter and sat down on an open seat. The other customer's eyes followed the male closely. The person at the counter was a kind looking lady that smiled sweetly at Cross.

"Hey, this bar is filled with pirates at the moment," she spoke as gently as he could, "It's a little dangerous or a child to be wandering around here right now."

"Oh," Cross finally realized the identity of the scary people around him, "So these guy are pirates." he noted, looking around. He the turned back to the lady. "But I'm okay! I'm kinda pirate to, and I'm already 17, and Takara said I can walk around anywhere I want."

The lady was so surprised she was silent for a long time trying to figure out something to say.

The whole bar, however, burst out laughing.

 **g. TAKARA**

Takara looked up at the rude guest that was blocking his light by standing over him. He had been sketching weapon ideas for a while now and had been getting increasingly absorbed in it. Getting interrupted was not on his list of likes.

The girl that had interrupted him was small and young, and had black hair that hung above her shoulders. There was an eye patch over her right eye and a long sword with a green-and-gold hilt was strapped around her waist.

Takara put his book down, his eyes narrowing. "May I help you?" he asked warily. The girl made no attempt to respond, keeping an unreadable expression on her face as her one green eye studied the redhead closely.

Subtly, Takara reached for the opening of the weapons chest.

Noticing the action, the girl quickly drew her sword and swung it at the redhead, aiming for his neck. It was so sudden, the redhead barely managed to defend himself with the first thing he managed to reach, which was coincidentally his bow. The sword the girl wielded had a black blade. Takara's eyes widened as he recognized the girl.

"[Gladiatrix, Armis!" he recalled.

"Yes, I am." the girl spoke. Her voice was soft, barely audible, and held not a single tint of emotion. She was like a robot doll. The [Gladiatrix, Armis, along with her twin brother, [Gladiator] Arma was a pair of well-known bounty hunters. They are almost never separated, so where is her twin?

Takara snapped himself out of it. He had the bad habit of losing himself in naming information of a criminal when he sees one, but now was not the time. This girl, aside from being a renowned bounty hunter, was a master swordsman.


End file.
